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Abstract
Comprehensive food policy to combat hunger and AIDS
J Ruxin, A Barkan
Columbia University, New York, United States
Issues: In Southern Africa, hunger and AIDS are inextricably intertwined. They are more than related – they feed off one another. AIDS increases hunger by crippling African ministries of agriculture, the labor force, the basic household unit, systems of communication and transportation, NGOs, and the nutritional needs of people infected with the disease. Hunger, in turn, increases families' vulnerability to AIDS, forces women into the sex trade, leads to increased migratory labor, and quickens the transition from HIV to AIDS.
Description: We begin our discussion with a brief description of the current cycle of degradation: how HIV/AIDS contributes to hunger, and how hunger, in turn, quickens the spread and worsens the effect of the pandemic. We then turn to the potential cycle of regeneration: how access to food can stem the spread of HIV/AIDS, and how that can result in higher levels of productivity and better access to food. We examine two broad avenues for achieving this regeneration: food policies geared at improving health, and those geared towards long-term agricultural development.
Lessons Learned: Food aid should be used in the fight against AIDS. It has the potential to serve as more than a safety net against famine: it can keep PLWHA alive and active; can be used to help teach HIV prevention; can help keep children in school and pay for teachers; can keep women from prostitution. Furthermore, food aid can help rebuild a nation's agricultural sector, and thereby prevent future hunger-AIDS cyclical degradation.
Recommendations: We can no longer think about the causes and cures for AIDS without understanding the causes and cures of hunger; in a sense, they are one and the same. Food organizations should think of themselves as health care and macro-education providers. AIDS organizations, in turn, should embrace food as a potential weapon in their battle.
The XV International AIDS Conference
Abstract no.
D12927
Suggested Citation
" J Ruxin, et al.
Comprehensive food policy to combat hunger and AIDS.
CD Only:
The XV International AIDS Conference:
Abstract no.
D12927"
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